Cleaning up e-waste

EVERY DAY, our society has more and more televisions and computers. But where do they go after they die?

They become one of America's fastest-growing yet least-recognized environmental problems.

In California, an estimated 6 million old computers and TVs are gathering dust in closets, garages and warehouses, awaiting disposal.

Under a little-noticed state rule enacted last year, it's illegal to put a computer screen or television in the garbage, because the lead in each cathode ray tube is a toxic substance that can cause birth defects if it seeps from a landfill into groundwater.

Existing recycling programs are woefully inadequate and underfunded. Most recycling and toxic waste disposal facilities charge about $30 to take your computer off your hands. Even then, about 80 percent of the so-called e-waste is simply exported to Asia, where the toxic materials are recycled using primitive methods that leave thousands of workers injured and communities poisoned.

What's needed is a well-publicized, well-funded, coordinated recycling program. Computer firms have long promised to create a voluntary, industry-run program, but they seem nowhere near taking action. Attention now must go to Washington and Sacramento, where bills to create government-funded programs deserve support.

In Congress, HR5158, sponsored by Rep. Mike Thompson, a Democrat who represents California's north coast, would levy a fee of up to $10 on all retail sales of computers and monitors. The revenue would go to the Environmental Protection Agency for a grant program for computer recycling programs.

In the state Legislature, SB1619, sponsored by Democratic Sens. Gloria Romero of Los Angeles and Byron Sher of Palo Alto, would require that all computer and TV screens sold in the state carry a standard label informing consumers how and where they must dispose of them.

SB1523, sponsored by Sher, would levy a fee on each computer and television to pay for a state-coordinated recycling program. Earlier this month, however, the bill was gutted in committee after Silicon Valley firms mounted a fierce lobbying campaign.

Computer manufacturers and retailers must look beyond their short-term interest and must recognize their civic obligation to help clean up the toxic mess caused by their own products. If they fail to do so, the federal and state governments must take strong action.